Twl-
I read the prior thread on going off the grid and was intrigued then, and the article Buscis2 referenced reinforced that. I just bought 120AC of unimproved land in the Blue Ridge mountains in VA where I plan on putting up a timberframe as a weekend retreat from DC. Can you recommend any good reading on the subject? At this stage I'm pretty flexible in terms of design. I have to have gas to cook with (can't stand cooking with an electric range) so I can avoid some major electric drain there. On the other hand, I'm not sure I'm willing to give up my ARC VT100s or my Salvatore espresso machine, so I may be in trouble on that score.
The article referenced consumers selling excess power back to the electric company--that seems particularly interesting concept for a w/e place. Plus, that means you are presumably connected to the grid so you have some backup if there is some Noah's ark-esque forty days of rain.
Where does one get started?
I read the prior thread on going off the grid and was intrigued then, and the article Buscis2 referenced reinforced that. I just bought 120AC of unimproved land in the Blue Ridge mountains in VA where I plan on putting up a timberframe as a weekend retreat from DC. Can you recommend any good reading on the subject? At this stage I'm pretty flexible in terms of design. I have to have gas to cook with (can't stand cooking with an electric range) so I can avoid some major electric drain there. On the other hand, I'm not sure I'm willing to give up my ARC VT100s or my Salvatore espresso machine, so I may be in trouble on that score.
The article referenced consumers selling excess power back to the electric company--that seems particularly interesting concept for a w/e place. Plus, that means you are presumably connected to the grid so you have some backup if there is some Noah's ark-esque forty days of rain.
Where does one get started?